p. 112 | Another Runaway Pond

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 5, 1877

Another Runaway Pond.

THE dam at Staffordville, Conn., gave way in the morning of Mar. 27, and a body of water covering 400 acres was precipitated upon the valley below. A horseman rode at the head of the flood to warn the inhabitants of the valley. The water, growing in volume by the absorption of successive ponds lying in its track, rolled on at the rate of five miles an hour, taking all the dams and bridges from Staffordville to Bellow Springs. People made the most of their short time in removing valuables and getting out of the way. Mills, warehouses, banks, churches, dwelling houses, stables, lumber-yards, were swept away before a rolling mass of water and accumulating debris in some places thirty feet high. Two men are reported lost. The latest estimate of loss of property is $350,000.